Velo Klubhaus.com is about cycling and a bit about life

Road Race Gravel & Pave Preview 2019

A list of cycle road races on the 2019 road race calendar that feature gravel, pave and dirt.

I have always had an interest in cycle races that deviate away from asphalt roads such as the Paris Roubaix ‘Spring Classic’ held over the notorious pave of northern France and I have often posted video, pictures and results on Social Media. In 2018 I began listing cycle road races that have in common a touch of the ‘Roubaixesque’ about them.

Most races across Europe in 2018 were generally held in dry conditions although two on my list weren’t – the white mud caked faces of both women and men in the Strade Bianchi highlighted that conditions especially for the women were wet. Similarly the La Classique Morbihan women’s race held in France on May 25 was hit by a deluge and the gravel and dirt roads there became a huge challenge.

The basic list of races I posted at the start of 2018 season grew as I became aware of other events, including a number in Scandinavia. No doubt just as I was caught out in 2018 I will also be in 2019 and this list is very much a work in progress. it will be updated as race organisers reveal their routes further into 2019.

Many of these races attract cyclo cross riders and in the 2017 edition of Dwars door het Hageland World Cyclo Cross Champions; Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel battled down to the wire for the win.

All the races featured in 2018 including a few ‘gravel’ stage races that may not do so in 2019 (eg. Colorado Classic, Giro d’Italia etc.) can be found here – 2018 Results/Video

Many of the fixtures have live streaming via the internet and when possible we will preview each race at ‘Velo Klubhaus‘.

Strade Bianche – March 9 2019 – Results/Video postedHeld on the ‘white roads’ of Tuscanny from Siena to Siena. This race has grown to cult and beyond ‘Classic’ status in a very short period of time, and is seen by many as a modern ‘Monument’ of cycling.

The white gravel roads intermingled with tarmac and many climbs, are dusty when dry and makes ‘mud people’ out of riders when wet.

Gent Wevelgem – March 31 2019– Results/Video postedIn addition to twice up the Kemmelberg climb the race features three ‘dirt’ sections (ploegsteerts or ‘plug streets, the latter pointing out the inability of Commonwealth soldiers to grasp hold of Flemish nuances in WW1).

On these dirt roads lie many clusters of spent humanity on what was once the fighting line through Belgium and France – We rode the Kemmelberg in 2013

3rd Women’s CiCLE Classic – June 9 2019
The 3rd Women’s edition of the popular International CiCLE Classic and a round of the HSBC British Championship Series. Held over the same dirt tracks as the men in April.

Tour de France Stage 6- Mulhouse /La Planche des Belles Filles– July 7 2019
A wee bit of dirt at the end of the first real mountain test for the Tour de France riders when they ride up to the summit of the La Planche des Belles Filles. This 5.5km climb has seen a number of Tour finishes, but for the first time the riders will continue up a one kilometre dirt road to the summit proper.

Slag om Norg- August 11 2019A Dutch race held near to Assen and features some 30 kilometres of gravel, dirt and unpaved roads in the overall race distance of 190.5 Kms. The sections of unpaved roads number over 40!

Ronde van de Achterhoek – August 18 2019
A short stretch of gravel and cobbles are included in this race. Although the race itself is not UCI registered it does represent the bread and butter of the very competitive cycle race scene to be found in the area.

The race founded in 1969 came back to life in 2017 after stopping post the 1988 edition.

La Vuelta stage 9: Andorra la Vella – Cortals d’Encamp 96.8 kms – September 1 2019
There are four kilometres of gravel immediately preceding the final ascent of Cortals d’Encamp, in total the peloton will face tackle 22 kilometres of almost continuous climbing at stage end.

The final climb is to be ridden from the opposite direction than in previous Vuelta’s so we are looking for video (lots as per previous races).

Gylne Gutuer GP – September 8 2019
Norway is made up of gravel roads and this race held as part of the Uno-X Development Weekend. It features 28 sections of the loose stuff, some 54.8 km of the 165 race distance was gravel.

The Hafjell GP (TT) is on the Friday, the Lillehammer GP (tarmac) on Saturday with Gylne Gutuer following on Sunday.

Antwerp Port Epic – September 8 2019
The general ethos of the Schaal Sels (now held purely on tarmac) can be seen in the ‘Antwerp Port Epic’ and the race continues to honour the memory of Belgian cycling journalist Jacques-Charles Sels who died during the 1920 Milan-Antwerp road race.

More from Gravel Off Piste

For this ‘it’s a small world – for the love of pave part two’ (Part One is here) I got a little more ambitious and imagined a scenario where it has been raining all day. At this point in the race it has stopped pouring down and the riders are beginning to dry whilst the… Continue Reading

There is ‘London tight’ and there is ‘Roubaix tight’; this passed through my mind when after much bike preparation I hit the first stretch of pave at Troisville the first section of cobbles on the route used by the Paris Roubaix pro road race held in April. In the race the riders take in a… Continue Reading

I am an ex-London cyclist and now a Goettingen rider – I have a fondness for cyclo cross and gravel cycling. This webpage is about my German gravel, naturweg, Panzer Weg and road rides. This, I guess will be a narrative of sorts of my cycle life in my newly adopted home country. I would… Continue Reading

Since my big change in life I have ridden my bike, listened to more LP’s and read more books in one month than I did in a year. Maybe this also has something to do with me being without a TV service which means no plonking myself in front of the ‘telly’ (which I do… Continue Reading

Results, video and picture links from the cycle road race 2019 calendar which feature gravel, pave and dirt. Road races that have in common a touch of the ‘Roubaixesque’ about them. Sadly I cannot say that all the video links will survive review by the geo-restriction or TV rights ‘police’. You can use a VPN… Continue Reading

Mayday is a public holiday in Germany and like most public holidays and Sundays retail life slows almost to a halt and it all seems a bit old fashioned compared to the 24/7 shopping fuelled frenzied lifestyles (and endless sales) which seem the norm in the UK. Except, even here in Germany there are those… Continue Reading